HENRI LEFEBVRE’S THEORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE: TOWARDS A THREE-DIMENSIONAL DIALECTIC

Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space has undergone a remarkable renaissance during recent years. This is all the more surprising as it had hardly elicited any response when published in the early 1970s.Although Lefebvre’s texts on Marxism, on everyday life, and on the city were widely read at the time, his reflections on space aroused little interest.The problematic of space did not as yet figure on the theoretical agenda. But today, Lefebvre’s book The Production of Space is routinely quoted. The “spatial turn” has taken hold of the social sciences and questions of space are accorded a great deal of attention, extending beyond geography. In essence, this is linked with the combined processes of urbanization and globalization: at every scale new geographies have developed.These new space-time configurations determining our world call for new concepts of space corresponding to contemporary social conditions.